Category: 2019 NFL Regular Season

Redskins experienced larger increase in attendance than any NFL team in 2019

The Redskins finished 2019 with a 3-13 record, but they saw a large bump in attendance numbers. We think we know why.

A new report on NFL attendance is sure to cause some confusion for many people, especially when it comes to the Washington Redskins.

According to the Sports Business Daily, the NFL has seen a drop in attendance this past season so drastic that it’s hit its lowest point since 2004. The report details an increase in the television audience, and a significant decrease in ticket sales.

However, the report does point out that two NFL franchises saw a big leap in ticket sales, both jumping up over five percent from the prior year. Can you guess who those two teams are?

  1. Buffalo Bills — Up 6.0 percent
  2. Washington Redskins — Up 7.3 percent

The Bills are easily explainable, based on their significant boost in production. But the Redskins? How in the world did they see an increase in ticket sales? The fans were literally so fed up with the team this year that it culminated in the firing of team president Bruce Allen, and the hiring of a new head coach.

We think we have an explanation. Remember, this report doesn’t differentiate between which team said fan is rooting for, just the overall number of tickets sold. Remember all those games where Eagles fans, or Patriots fans, or Giants fans vastly outnumbered Redskins fans in FedEx Field? That explains it, right?

The Redskins fans were so eager to do anything but attend games in Landover, MD this season that they were willing to basically give their tickets away for free on the secondary market. It was not uncommon for opposing fanbases to be able to find tickets to games for less than $15 and at a solid vantage point at that.

While the raw numbers paint an increase in revenue for the Redskins, fans of the team know that it’s anything but.

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Redskins projected to receive one compensatory pick for loss of Jamison Crowder

After Crowder left Washington in free agency last season, the NFL is projected to give the Redskins one compensatory pick in the 2020 Draft.

Most fans of the NFL get to this part of the offseason and feel some excitement start to bubble as the annual draft starts to draw near. They’ll look at the list of draft picks that their respective team owns and study mocks, trying to figure out who would best fit their roster in the next year.

This is all great, but if you want to reach the next stage in your NFL fandom (or lunacy) then it’s Compensatory Picks that will really get your juices flowing. Don’t know what a compensatory pick is? Here’s an explainer from the NFL. 

Under the terms of the NFL’s collective bargaining agreement, the league also can assign as many as 32 additional “compensatory free agent” picks, which allow clubs that have lost free agents to another team to use the draft to try to fill the void. The awarded picks take place at the end of the third through seventh round.

In other words, if you lose a player to free agency at any point during the offseason or regular season, the NFL will look at that loss in value and decide whether or not you will receive an extra draft pick as compensation.

Luckily for the Washington Redskins, they are projected by OverTheCap to receive one compensatory pick in the fourth round for their loss of Jamison Crowder to the New York Jets in free agency. Crowder had a solid season for the Jets, hauling in 78 catches for 833 yards and six touchdowns.

The compensatory pick would be a nice addition to the Redskins draft stock this year. While they do own the No. 2 overall pick in the draft — where they are expected to take Ohio State DE Chase Young — they are without both a second-round pick and a sixth-round pick due to trades Montez Sweat and Case Keenum.

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Redskins punter Tress Way named to AP NFL All-Pro second-team

Weeks after being named to the Pro Bowl, Tress Way was given the honors of second-team All-Pro by the Associated Press.

Just a few weeks after being named to his first Pro-Bowl, Washington Redskins punter Tress Way has been named a second-team All-Pro for his performance in 2019.

Tennessee Titans punter Brett Kern was named the first-team All-Pro.

Way had a career season in Washington, and his ability to pin an opponent inside its 20-yard line 50 times over the past two years and boot it into the end zone for a touchback just twice in 145 attempts is surely a reason why. He also inked a four-year, $15-million extension just before the holidays as a nod to his good work.

Outside of Way, the rest of the All-Pro roster — both first and second-team — was completely void of Redskins’ players, and they failed to garner even a single vote outside of Way. Though players like Matt Ioannidis, Landon Collins and Brandon Scherff were named to the Pro Bowl as either a starter or an alternate, they didn’t quite make the cut for the All-Pro team.

Hopefully, that changes in the future.

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Redskins’ front finishes No. 13 in PFF’s offensive line rankings

Even without Trent Williams, the Redskins offensive line finished in the top half of the league with some make-shift pieces filling holes.

The biggest concern for the Washington Redskins heading into the 2019 season centered around the offensive line.

With a new QB set to be under center, and long-time All-Pro Trent Williams holding out from the team, the Redskins were forced to piece together a make-shift front and hope that it could hold up.

That group did a pretty solid job, considering the circumstances, and they finished in the top half of the NFL’s offensive line rankings, according to Pro Football Focus, coming in at No. 13 out of 32 teams in the league.

The Redskins’ offensive line was operating without its best player all season, as Trent Williams sat out, but the group still managed to finish among the top half of the league in our rankings, led by Brandon Scherff before his season-ending injury. Scherff was a force to be reckoned with in the run game this season. His 76.3 run-blocking grade ranked fifth among all qualifying guards.

Left tackle Donald Penn was signed right before the season, and though he was probably the weakest member of the front-five, he wasn’t a complete liability. Next to him was Ereck Flowers, who did a magnificent job of bucking the ‘bust-narrative’ that has followed him throughout his young NFL career, and he likely earned a spot with the Redskins for several years to come.

The three staples of the line, C Chase Roullier, RG Brandon Scherff, and RT Morgan Moses, were all expectedly solid, and they will remain incumbents at their position for as long as they want the spot. Of course, Scherff is entering free agency with a desire to be paid top dollar this year, so there is a possibility that Washington moves on from the Pro-Bowl guard. However, should Scherff vacate his spot, rookie RG Wes Martin played will in the veteran’s absence this past season, and would step right into the starting spot with ease.

There are few accolades being thrown around the Redskins organization after a 3-13 season, expectedly so. However, we aim to give credit where credit is due, and the offensive line deserves it this year.

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Steven Sims Jr. is only player in NFL to accomplish this feat in 2019

Sims Jr. is quite possibly the biggest surprise for the Redskins, and his playmaking ability in all facets of the game makes him special.

The future is starting to look pretty bright in Washington, isn’t it?

Not only has the team rid of team president Bruce Allen, but they have also hired the highly-respected Ron Rivera, and are looking to bring in Jack Del Rio as the defensive coordinator on top of that.

Now, with a revamped front office, a coaching staff who is ready to hit the ground running, and the No. 2 pick in the 2020 NFL Draft, fans might start to get excited for next season to roll around. If you’re looking to increase that excitement, look no further than the talented young players on offense that emerged this year, the most surprising of which was undrafted rookie wide receiver Steven Sims Jr.

Sims was one of the final players to make the 53-man roster in the preseason, and he made the most of his opportunity with the Redskins, becoming the only player in the NFL this season to run, catch, and return a touchdown this season.

Alongside players like Terry McLaurin, Kevlin Harmon, Derrius Guice, and Dwayne Haskins, there’s a group of potentially explosive playmakers on the Redskins offense.

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Redskins targeting Jack Del Rio as their next defensive coordinator

Jack Del Rio seems to be the top candidate for the Redskins as they look to fill out their defensive coordinator position under Ron Rivera.

The Washington Redskins are expected to target former Oakland Raiders head coach Jack Del Rio as their defensive coordinator going forward, according to ESPN’s Adam Schefter.

It was reported early on Tuesday morning by ESPN’s John Keim that Steve Wilks, who many expected to follow new Redskins head coach Ron Rivera to Washington to become the defensive coordinator, was not expected to make the trip. Soon thereafter, Schefter reported that Del Rio was the top target for the Redskins, and he’s likely to take the job.

Del Rio and Rivera will be tasked with overhauling the Redskins defense and implementing a 4-3 scheme that hasn’t been used in Washington in the past decade. Del Rio’s success in Carolina and Denver makes him a great choice for the Redskins, and one that would surely bolster their prospects on that side of the ball.

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Redskins fire head trainer Larry Hess after 17 years in Washington

The Redskins have made another massive move, firing the head trainer for the team and likely reshaping the entire medical department.

According to NBC Sports Washington’s JP Finlay, the Washington Redskins have fired Larry Hess, the head trainer for the Redskins.

Hess had been working for the Redskins for 17 years, but once his colleague Bruce Allen — whom he was close to — was fired on Monday morning, it was rumored that the front office upheaval might reach the training room as well. Now, with the head trainer out, it would not come as a surprise to see the rest of the medical department looking for work soon as well.

The Redskins have had a muddled injury history over the past several years, and they finished this season with 24 players on the injured reserve list. They’ve also been gifted much of the blame regarding left tackle Trent Williams, who claims that they severely misdiagnosed a tumor on his scalp that ended up being cancerous. According to Williams’ side of the story, the medical staff had been monitoring the growth for six years while telling him that it was nothing to worry about. Williams had the cancerous growth removed earlier this year, and he has been holding out from the team ever since.

The move was rumored to happen earlier in the day, again by Finlay, but the first report detailed that the medical staff could be canned, while Hess remained safe. Finlay later added that Hess was also in danger of being shown the exit, and it appears that’s now what happened.

With Ron River, who is expected to be named the new head coach, on his way to Virginia to meet with the team, there will surely be more announcements about the Redskins’ structure in the near future. Stay tuned.

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Report: Redskins looking to make changes to medical staff in Washington

As a part of the numerous changes taking place on Monday, the Redskins reportedly could look to shake up their medical staff as well.

If Washington Redskins fans were to make a list at the start of the season of things they’d like to see happen in order to change the losing culture, it would likely go as follows:

  1. #FireBruceAllen
  2. Fire Jay Gruden
  3. Get rid of the medical training staff

Two of those boxes have been checked off, and the third is reportedly close to happening as well. According to NBC Sports Washington’s JP Finlay, the major upheaval in the Redskins organization on Monday could reach all the way to the training room, where head trainer Larry Hess could find his job at stake.

The Redskins have had a muddled injury history over the past several years, and they finished this season with 24 players on the injured reserve list. They’ve also been gifted much of the blame regarding left tackle Trent Williams, who claims that they severely misdiagnosed a tumor on his scalp that ended up being cancerous. According to Williams’ side of the story, the medical staff had been monitoring the growth for six years while telling him that it was nothing to worry about. Williams had the cancerous growth removed earlier this year, and he has been holding out from the team ever since.

With a new GM likely to be named, and a new coach on his way to Ashburn, it seems fitting that new medical staff could be implemented as well. All of these injuries over the past few years can’t be the result of coincidence. A change was needed at the top of the Redskins organization, and it happened on Monday morning. Now it’s time for that change to trickle on down to the medical staff as well.

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Dwayne Haskins wants Kevin O’Connell to stay on as offensive coordinator

With Ron Rivera expected to be the next head coach of the Redskins, rookie QB Dwayne Haskins wants Kevin O’Connell to stick around as OC.

Change can be a good thing for anyone, but too much change is often dangerous. The same can be true for rookie quarterback Dwayne Haskins, who will be playing under his third head coach by the time the 2020 season rolls around, and quite possibly his second offensive coordinator.

After it was announced that the Washington Redskins fired team president Bruce Allen on Monday, news broke that the team was likely to hire Ron Rivera as their next head coach. With a new coach often comes new assistant coaches and coordinators.

For Haskins, a new OC might not be a good thing. After working for a season with Redskins’ current play-caller Kevin O’Connell, the two have formed a bond and figured out a lot of things that they can get done on the field. When asked about the coaching changes on Monday, Haskins was adamant that he wanted KOC to stick around.

It’s quite possible that Rivera is hired on the condition that KOC is kept on as the OC, and the offense is able to continue its steady growth while the defense receives a much-needed makeover. If stability is the goal, then keeping the QB and OC in sync is key.

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Redskins expected to hire Ron Rivera as new head coach in Washington

The Redskins are expected to hire Ron Rivera as the next head coach in Washington, making him the ninth HC since 2000.
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It hasn’t taken long for the Washington Redskins to get things into motion during the 2019 offseason.

On Monday morning, the Redskins plan to hire Ron Rivera as the next head coach in Washington, according to ESPN’s Adam Schefter. Rivera, who was fired by the Carolina Panthers earlier this season, will be the ninth head coach to be employed in Washington since 2000.

Though he was fired by the Panthers in early December after starting 2019 with a 5-7 record and losing four straight, Rivera is still a highly respected head coach in the NFL, and he’s had great success in the past with Carolina. He took over the Panthers job in 2011 and led the team to three NFC South titles, as well as a super bowl appearance in 2015. He was also named a two-time Associated Press coach of the year, and he posted an overall regular-season record of 76-63-1 in Carolina.

Considering the type of turmoil that has been present in Washington over the past decade, Rivera is to be seen as a great ‘get’ for the Redskins. Rivera will likely bring some much-needed stability to the program, and his experience working with a young Cam Newton in years past will surely help him develop Dwayne Haskins.

Now that the Redskins have a solid foundation at the top of the coaching pyramid, they’ll likely be able to fill out several positions down the line. It’s highly possible that a number of position coaches in Washington receive some unpleasant calls on Monday, leading them to look for work. We will keep you updated as those changes are announced.

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